Our expat sites

Middle East

Hi, I’m Clara Wiggins and I am from the UK. At the moment I also live in the UK but I was born in Cuba (to British diplomatic parents) and lived all over the world including the Philippines, Nigeria, Venezuela, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Pakistan and St Lucia. This year we are moving to South Africa.
1. Why did you move abroad?
As a child I moved with my parents – no choice! Then as an adult I realised the wonderlust was still there and I started out by going on a round-the-world trip on my own, which included nine months in New Zealand. When I returned to London I decided I wasn’t done with living abroad so I joined the Foreign Office and with that job moved to Jamaica. Here I met my husband and became pregnant with the first of our two daughters. We then moved with my husband’s job to Pakistan and St Lucia (and soon to South Africa). (More)

My name is Yelena Parker. I grew up in Ukraine. I am American. At the moment I live in Tanzania and in July I will return to the United Kingdom, my latest country of “permanent” residence.

1. Why did you move abroad?
I moved abroad multiple times. 4 times, to be more precise. My first move was for pure economic reasons. I moved from Ukraine to the United States, straight to the heart of Silicon Valley to get an MBA. This was meant to open doors to gaining economic advantage.

Second time it was an expat contract, company transfer from the US to Geneva, Switzerland.

Third time, after our business was acquired, I got a local contract in the UK and moved to London.

Lastly, I am currently in Tanzania, volunteering and travelling for 4 months. Yes, I count it as an expat experience! 4 months of community work is truly plenty of time to absorb the local culture!(More)

Originally from the flatlands and big skies of rural Norfolk in eastern England, Jay Artale (aka Roving Jay) is a British Expat currently living in Los Angeles. She’s a vicarious blogger and has recently published her first Travel Guide Book covering the Bodrum Peninsula in Turkey, which is where she has her 2nd home.

1. Why did you move abroad?
Like most baby boomers from Britain … I was brought up on a diet of old Hollywood Matinee movies and I still remember my pre-teen yearnings to live in America. I’m not sure if I thought it was possible; it was just an escapism tactic from small-town rural life.(More)

Alexander McNabb is from the UK and has been working in,
living in and travelling around the Middle East for over 25 years. Currently located in the UAE, Alexander is a frequent conference speaker,
chair and moderator, particularly on issues around online and digital
communications.

1. Why did you move abroad?
Oof, start with the small questions, eh? I was working for a UK based publishing company specializing in trade magazines for the Middle East, particularly in technology, and as time went on it was more and more obvious we needed to set up in the UAE. So I started up a partly owned subsidiary here back in 1993 and the rest, as they say, is history.

2. How do you make a living? Are you a fulltime writer?
No, I wish! I’m the director of a digital communications consultancy called Spot On Public Relations. I moved out of publishing into PR in the late 1990s, rather like a frog being boiled – it sort of happened before I realized it. And then PR turned into getting more involved in online and digital marketing, which is the day job today.

Jack Scott completed one of our first Expat Interviews, "From London to Bodrum:Perking the Pansies and Surviving the Expats in Turkey". Since that time, his blog of life in Turkeyhas grown tremendously. He translated his success into a memoir of his expat adventures and spoke with us about the difficulties of taking an expat blog to a book.

My name is Jack Scott. I was born on a British army base in Canterbury, England in 1960 and spent part of my childhood in Malaysia as a 'forces brat'. At the age of eighteen and determined to dodge further education, I became a shop boy on Chelsea's trendy King's Road. Days on the tills and nights on the tiles were the best probation for a young gay man about town. After two carefree years, I swapped sales for security and got a proper job in local government with a pension attached. By my late forties, passionately dissatisfied with suburban life and middle management, I abandoned the sanctuary of liberal London for an uncertain future in Turkey. I currently live in Bodrum with my Civil Partner, Liam. (More)